Features

The Bower goes from strength to strength
 Australia, Features, New South Wales, Online Subscription, Waste & Resource Recovery

The Bower goes from strength to strength

Established in 1997, The Bower Reuse & Repair Centre began when a group of Sydney residents got together with aspirations to establish a reuse centre for household items.

They secured funding to build a warehouse – Sydney’s first straw bale construction – and over the years, The Bower has become an environmental charity and cooperative committed to stopping usable items from going to landfill.

In the past two years alone, The Bower has diverted around 291,108 tonnes of household furniture and goods away from landfill for reuse with their collection services workshops in Marrickville and Parramatta. Read more

OPPO stresses importance of product stewardship
 Circular Economy, Features, Online Subscription

OPPO stresses importance of product stewardship

Smartphone manufacturer OPPO has become the latest organisation to implement a better approach to managing the impacts of their various products and materials by joining up with the mobile telecommunications industry’s official recycling program MobileMuster, which provides a free take-back program for old mobiles and accessories to keep them out of landfill.

According to OPPO chief marketing officer Michael Tran, becoming a member of MobileMuster enables our customers to keep their old devices out of landfill, and instead recycle these products to put re-usable materials back into the supply chain. Read more

Taking the lead to close the e-waste loop
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Taking the lead to close the e-waste loop

But treating e-waste should not simply be viewed as only an end-of-pipe problem. There needs to be a shift in thinking towards treating electronic equipment as a product stewardship and circular economy opportunity.

The time to act is now, says Telstra, particularly as the rapid evolution of technology continues to drive significant growth in e-waste around the world.

This year, the telco received 60% of old phones returned for recycling and has helped more than 600 small businesses recycle some 60 tonnes of e-waste. Read more

The factors that lead to better compaction
 Australia, Features, Online Subscription, Waste & Resource Recovery

The factors that lead to better compaction

Speaking candidly to Inside Waste, Cat industry specialist Ayden Piri noted that Australia and New Zealand citizens generate some 3kg of waste per person per day, which equates to more than 30 million tonnes of waste every year.

“This large volume of waste has forced nations to build almost 400 landfills in these countries. The cost to build a landfill in the region varies from AU$5 million to AU$8 million per million cubic metre (100x100x100 meters space) so it’s quite costly to build a new landfill,” Piri said. Read more

Renault launches new carbon emissions offset program
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Renault launches new carbon emissions offset program

Renault’s Go Green to Grow Green initiative aims to offset the expected carbon emissions of all Bamboo Green Trafics during the first seven years of their working lives.

Renault Australia’s managing director Justin Hocevar is confident that this initiative will make Bamboo Green Renault Trafic vans synonymous with reduced carbon footprints, and he encourages customers who are keen to be seen to be making a difference to buy one.

“We are working to provide our customers with a vehicle to express their commitment to reducing their carbon footprint,” Hocevar said. Read more

So you want energy from waste?
 Australia, Features, Online Subscription, Waste & Resource Recovery

So you want energy from waste?

Under its legislation, the CEFC has access to $2 billion a year for five years and it is currently in its fourth year. To date, the CEFC has accessed $8 billion, of which it has invested about $2 billion. And among its target client sectors sits waste, bioenergy, and agriculture.

“Our funding is not use it or lose it. We’re not under pressure to do deals that aren’t ready to be done. But at the same time, part of our role is to accelerate the markets. The point there is that we’re not capital constraint, we’re project constraint,” Henry Anning, director – CEFC Corporate and Project Finance told delegates who attended the conference. Read more

Three-bin systems - the new waste reform front
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Three-bin systems – the new waste reform front

The key reasons preventing councils from implementing a three-bin kerbside service are uncertainty with respect to: cost to council; cost per household; waste diversion; and demonstrable environmental benefits. But these questions can be answered via quantifiable and repeatable economic analysis.

Recently, Bass Coast Shire Council (BCSC) in Victoria engaged MRA with similar concerns over the introduction of a kerbside organics service. MRA performed a full feasibility study, including a quadruple bottom line assessment, to quantify all aspects of the implementation of a FOGO service. Read more

US P2P energy sharing company sets up shop in Australia
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US P2P energy sharing company sets up shop in Australia

LO3 Energy set up their office in Byron Bay as part of plans for a global rollout of demonstration microgrid sites based on the company’s proven P2P trading platform, which will be headed up by former Australian environmental finance professional Belinda Kinkead.

According to Kinkead, while the LO3 is certainly not the only company looking to develop P2P energy trading in Australia, it does arrive here with the advantage of having already delivered proof of concept in America. Read more

Is this the end of the Proximity Principle? Probably not.
 Australia, Features, New South Wales, Online Subscription, Waste & Resource Recovery

Is this the end of the Proximity Principle? Probably not.

Last month, the EPA released draft construction and demolition waste reforms, which included the removal of the Proximity Principle that would impact other waste streams as well.

NSW EPA executive director, waste and resource recovery Steve Beaman, who spoke at a Waste Contractors and Recyclers Association of NSW (WCRA) breakfast briefing on November 8 on the C&D reforms, told attendees that the plan to remove the Proximity Principle was largely because people were “mucking around with it” and it became a challenge for the EPA. Read more

Australia Post set to trial EVs for delivery fleet network
 Circular Economy, Features, Online Subscription

Australia Post set to trial EVs for delivery fleet network

Plans for the EV trial follow the Australia Post’s $41 million before-tax profit this year, which was driven largely by strong growth in the parcels business and reduced losses in letters.

According to Australia Post head of network optimisation, letters & mail network Mitch Buxton, they decided to investigate the use of EVs due to the rise of online shopping and digital communication changing the types of products customers send through their network for delivery. Read more